The rants, raves, reviews, news, and express written opinion of a writer celebrating his life long love affair with music that rocks!!!

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Reflections On...Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

“Can I play with matches?!” Yes, I honestly thought those
were the actual words to Iron Maiden’s incredible “Can I Play With Madness” the
first time I ever heard the song. I was in my mother’s car returning from (or heading
to) somewhere when the song first graced my ears. Our local rock radio station,
WDHA, was playing the brand new Iron Maiden song, and my body perked up
immediately upon hearing the first note. Unfortunately, my young mind didn’t
process the lyrics as astutely as it should have. Thus, I heard “Can I play
with matches?” and thought that Iron Maiden was the coolest freaking band in
the entire world. I had never heard a band sing about playing with matches.
This was superb! I had to have this record.

It was the end of my freshman year in high school and
just after Appetite For Destructionhad taken over my life, I was starting to listen to harder
and heavier bands. I was pulling myself away from the bubble gum pop of junior
high school and navigating toward darker, heavier music. Billy Joel was put on
the shelf for Motley Crue. The Stray Cats were retired for AC/DC. And Iron
Maiden grabbed my attention with their earlier catalog, specifically Number
Of The Beast.

Thus, when a brand new Iron Maiden album was announced,
and the first single was played on the radio, I was all ears. Unfortunately my
ears heard the wrong lyrics. Matches or madness aside, I had to have this
entire album. Alas, as was usually the case, I had no money. How on Earth was 15
year old, no money having, Ryo Vie going to scrape together $8 to buy this
cassette? I put the issue in the back of my mind and promised myself that I
would figure out a way.

The summer before my sophomore year of high school, I was
going to get an actual job. It would be my first real job. I was going
to live with my grandparents for the summer and work at the local McDonalds. I
was excited about the prospect of working for the summer and having spending
money in my pocket.

Part of the reason I was being shipped off to Grandma’s
house was due to the fact that my mother and stepfather were going through a
rough patch and were in the precursor to a divorce. In retrospect, I think my
mom felt it would be best for me to not be around during this trying period of
life. None of that mattered to me. I had just turned fifteen years old and I
was given the opportunity to live with my grandparents (very not strict vs. my
strict parents) and I would be able to work my first job, thus having spending
money. Sign me up!

However, I had to work a couple of weeks before I would
even see my first paycheck. Thus, I was still in the same boat when I arrived
at my grandparent’s house --- young and poor. Thankfully I had friends nearby. One of those friends was Jason, a very good
friend who lived near my Grandparents. He also happened to be a huge Iron
Maiden fan. Jason was kind enough to dub a copy of Seventh Son Of A Seventh
Son for me. So as my summer got off to a grand start, I had some excellent
music to enjoy along with it.

The night I received my copy of Seventh Son of a
Seventh Son I went into my room and fired up the cassette player. The
opening acoustic strum filled the room quickly followed by Bruce Dickinson’s
surreal voice singing: “Seven deadly sins, seven ways to win…” I was
immediately mesmerized. The acoustic intro led to the opening riffs of
“Moonchild” and I became an instant fan of the album. Once the acoustic intro
kicked into the hard blazing riffs I was grinning. This was powerful music!
This was what all music should sound like. Iron Maiden was incredible!

Working at McDonald’s provided an intriguing shift in my
life. In addition to making money, there were other perks to working at
McDonalds---girls. There seemed to be a never ending supply of attractive
females working with me. At 15, Ryo loved the ladies. And the ladies were
plentiful at his new job. Forget the money I would work there just to be able
to date some of the girls!

And when I wasn’t working, eyeing up the cute females, or
hanging out with my buddies, I was absorbing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. “Can I Play With Madness” may have
been the song that created my desire to own the album, but it quickly became my
least favorite song on the record. I believe that it still is. That’s how great
of an album Seventh Son is. The hit
single is the weakest song.

Once I got over my addiction to “Moonchild,” “The
Clairvoyant” quickly became my new favorite song. I believe it was the opening
bass line that really hooked me. I had never heard bass guitar played quite
that way before and I was mesmerized. And once the galloping bass line crashed
into the guitar riffs, it was pure love for the ears. Such an amazing sound!
Such an amazing song! Such an amazing band!

That summer moved too fast as many do. I found myself
involved in a quick 3 week relationship with one co-worker, Charlene. She was
older than me (17 to my 15), but that was par for the Ryo Vie course; I always
dug the older ladies. However, it was short lived as Charlene and I were not
overly compatible and in the end, it turns out I was used to make her ex
boyfriend jealous. That was all right by me. And a couple of weeks later, I
would start dating the first real love of my life, Stephanie (but that is a Reflections On… for another day).

When I wasn’t working I spent a lot of days and nights
that summer just hanging out with my friends; Both new friends that I made at
my job and old friends that I had since I started visiting my Grandparents when
I was 7 or 8. There was even a lot of discussion about staying there for good
and going to their high school. Of course, most of that talk was amongst us,
without ever actually discussing it with my parents or grandparents. But the
idea was a wonderful one.I really liked
the group of friends I made and it was going to be hard to leave them when the
summer ended.

And as summer marched on, my love for Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son only
intensified. The gem of the record is the titular track. “Seventh Son Of A
Seventh Son” is a near ten minute beauty. It is a captivating tune that flows
flawlessly and sounds incredible. It was also one of the first heavy metal
songs I heard that lasted that long. At that time in my life, I didn’t really
know what progressive rock was. And I had no idea that songs could go on and on
like that. Up until then the longest “rock” song I had ever heard was “Paradise
By The Dashboard Lights” and that was really three songs in one. “Seventh Son
Of A Seventh Son” was definitely no “Paradise By The Dashboard Lights.” It was
much more magnificent!

After picking apart the nuances of “Seventh Son Of A
Seventh Son” I soon found myself listening to “Infinite Dreams” over and over
again. This was Iron Maiden’s version of a ballad and it was absolutely
incredible. It wasn’t all wussy and whiny about a girl who cheated or some love
lost. There was power in this song – a power I had not witnessed in most of the
hair metal and pop rock I enjoyed up until that point. “Infinite Dreams” was a
song that made me think---what exactly was this song about? What was the exact
message the band was trying to convey with their lyrics and music? It was a
question that I spent many nights that summer pondering and enjoying.

And as all summers do, mine eventually came to an end. My
time at McDonald’s came to pass and the summer was over. Leaving was painful. I
had made wonderful friends and I had a girlfriend that had to be left behind. That
just sucked! Even into the fall of that year I played Seventh Son a lot. It reminded me of the great summer I had just
experienced and it still sounded brilliant. Unfortunately I didn’t have any
hometown friends to share the joy with. None of them were into Iron Maiden. So I
celebrated by myself.

It would be years before I would own an actual copy of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. I carried
that dubbed copy around for a long time and listened to it often. I may even
still have it. Sometime in the early 2000s Iron Maiden remastered their catalog
and I finally purchased a copy. It was a smart decision on my part as the music
sounded better than ever.

Even to this day, when I play a song from that album, I
can still smell the French fries cooking, feel the nauseating excitement of reporting
to my first day of work, and remember the great friends that I made that
summer. It is a nostalgic blast that I will always enjoy.